Heading to the Hall: Centralia Piano Teacher to Be Honored After 48 Years

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After 48 years of teaching piano, a local teacher has reached a milestone with a surprise induction into the Washington State Music Teacher Association’s Hall of Fame.

Linda Fast, a Centralia piano teacher, has taught hundreds of students in the area. Members of the Lewis County Music Teacher Association, along with past students and their parents, submitted 11 letters of recommendation nominating Fast for the Hall of Fame. 

“It was very unexpected; it never crossed my mind, but I am humbled and grateful of course,” Fast said. 

Hall of Fame Chair Mary Ellen Cavelti said in a letter addressed to Fast that she was nominated by her colleagues because of her “extraordinary service, outstanding musicianship, and leadership in the field of music.”

“Your dedication signified by the contributions you have made in your community has led to the development and growth of music education in this state of Washington,” Cavelti said in the letter.

Fast will be inducted into the hall of fame along with two other teachers at a special ceremony during the WSMTA annual state conference banquet in Walla Walla in June.

Fast said her 48-year career will come to an end at a May recital.

Coming from a musical family, Fast has always been surrounded by music. She began taking piano lessons when she was 9 years old, and after a short hiatus in her late high school and early college years, she graduated from Warner Pacific College in Portland with a bachelor’s degree in Christian education with a minor in music and an emphasis on voice.

Although she taught voice lessons for a time, the majority of her teaching career has been centered around the piano.

After her first daughter was born in 1967, Fast wanted to help her family financially but hoped to remain a stay-at-home mom.

“I was praying about the situation one night in bed and the Lord gave me an idea. I had taken piano lessons and played piano most of my life, so why not be a piano teacher?” she recalled. 



After purchasing a Gulbransen studio piano from Yenney’s in Olympia, she started a career she would remain with for almost five decades.

Fast moved to Centralia in August of 1982 when her husband Dallas became the minister of music at the Centralia Community Church of God.

She has been active in her church musically, along with her kids and grandkids, ever since. 

Her favorite thing about teaching is the kids she has taught along the way. Currently she has about 15 students. She’s taught some students for up to 10 years. 

“My students have made me proud and it doesn’t even matter that they go on to do something different with it,” the 72 year-old teacher said. “They have the gift of music, the joy of it, and can play in their home, sing and understand it.”

The letters of recommendation for Fast show that to many, she was much more than a teacher.

Vicki Judd, former piano teacher and a parent to four of Fast’s students, said her children received a superior music education that benefited them far beyond their eight years of piano instruction.

“We expected a good musical education for our children when we selected Linda as their teacher, but Linda was far more than just a piano teacher,” Judd wrote. “Linda was a friend, a mentor and an important non-family member who poured life into our kids. As parents we were and are forever indebted to Linda for speaking life and truth into our kids.”

Fast, who is the president of the Lewis County Music Teacher Association, remained humble and downplayed her contributions after receiving the award, saying she did not feel like she deserved the prestigious title, although she did appreciate it. 

“This is quite an honor and was totally unexpected,” she said.